


got my heavy heart to hold me down

by trainerlyra



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Datastormshipping, Eventual Smut, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Season 3 Spoilers, Sexual Tension, Sharing a Bed, ok more than light angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 07:10:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20738270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trainerlyra/pseuds/trainerlyra
Summary: Somehow, Ai manages to merge Link VRAINS with the real world, causing whoever was logged in at the time to be stuck in their avatars. Revolver is unfortunate enough to be one of the victims.





	got my heavy heart to hold me down

**Author's Note:**

> me on thursday evening: huh i'm kinda thirsty for revsaku smut specifically. never written smut before. guess i could give it a try  
me, days later looking at this monstrosity: how did i get here again
> 
> Seriously, all I wanted was to write some RevSaku shenanigans, and now here we are, 17k later. I'm so sorry l m a o
> 
> edit: fixed some grammar stuff lol. will do more again later

In retrospect, Yusaku realized, he probably should've known Ai would pull something like this. He was only lucky he was actually at school when it happened, instead of searching for the lost Ignis in the network.

Yusaku should've known all hell was about to break loose when he sensed something go wrong inside the network - something very, very wrong. It was almost similar to a feeling he'd felt before, but he couldn't quite place it. When everyone's duel disks all beeped with a news update from the new Link VRAINS - AiLand, which Yusaku would continue to be steadfast in his refusal to call it anything of the sort - however, that's when things _really _got out of control.

He realized, in an instant, what he had been feeling. Months and months ago, over a year ago now, when he'd first trapped Ai inside his duel disk, he had seen Revolver flying over head, despite being in the real world. It had been some kind of blend, one that he'd never experienced again, but he was sure that was what was going on.

The update on his own duel disk confirmed it, and he cursed as it did. From all around him, his classmates started going haywire, and Yusaku decided to slip out in the middle of the chaos, already dreading the work he was going to have to do to fix this.

* * *

Kusanagi breathed a sigh of relief when Yusaku showed up as, well, _Yusaku_. This wasn't a situation either of them had ever expected to encounter; they had no contingency plan. Yusaku's life as Yusaku hinged on the fact that nobody would ever know his identity as Playmaker.

"It's good to see you as you," Kusanagi told him as they climbed into the back of the Cafe Nagi truck. "Did school get canceled, or did you just ditch?"

Frowning, Yusaku looked away from the older man. Back when their partnership had been new, neither had cared about the fact that Yusaku missed a lot of school to figure out the answers they desperately sought. It was more important to both of them, at the time, that they figure out exactly why the Hanoi Project had taken place, and who had caused it. Now that everything was over and done with, though, Kusanagi wanted Yusaku to learn to live normally, and Yusaku wanted to try and respect that.

He just really, really didn't care about Den City High School as much as Kusanagi probably wanted him to. "I ditched," he said honestly, shrugging a little bit. "With the way everyone else was acting, however, I doubt I'll be noticed."

It was honestly like a fire had broken out inside the school building. There was no teacher in the world, in Yusaku's opinion, that could've calmed them all down. As of right now, according to the update from Ai, if you were to log into Link VRAINS, you would be trapped in your avatar for the foreseeable future. This was apparently intentional, and with his total control over SOL Technologies at the moment, everyone was relying on Playmaker to solve things. Including Ai - he had mentioned in the update that he was looking forward to seeing Playmaker in the flesh.

The situation with Ai was slowly spinning out of control. It had _been_ out of control from the moment he went rogue, truthfully, but Yusaku was used to taking things as they came. This was getting to the point where he could no longer predict what would come next, what Ai's next move would be, or how to counter it.

Like in this situation. Link VRAINS had somehow merged with the real world. People were stuck inside their avatars until Ai felt like fixing it - _could _he even reverse this, Yusaku wondered? He would've liked to think that Ai had some shred of kindness left in him, but he wasn't sure if that was just wishful thinking anymore. What he had done to the Zaizens, the fact that he'd use Judgment Arrows, of all things…

It had hurt. It had hurt a lot. And Yusaku was still unsure what Ai's goal was or where he stood, right now, making things all the more confusing.

"Do you have a game plan?" Kusanagi asked, snapping Yusaku out of his thoughts.

His frown deepened, and he shook his head. "I need more information," he said, heading for his computer at the desk. "I'll tell you when I've got something."

* * *

It had been maybe a few hours since he'd started to look at everything he could get his hands on - news articles and video footage, and now he'd begun going through each and every line of code on the original update to see if it held a hidden message or _something_ to work with - when Yusaku's phone rang, startling him more than he'd care to admit.

There were only two people that really ever called him, and one of them was in the front serving customers, so he assumed it would be Takeru. A quick look at his screen while it rang, however, proved it was someone he had not been expecting at all.

"Ryoken?" He questioned in greeting, holding the phone up to his ear and pushing himself away from the screen in front of him. Normally he'd despise having to take a break, but for the person on the line, he supposed he didn't mind.

"Fujiki. I'm sure you're aware of the current situation." No formalities, straight to the point. Just like him, really. "Are you in your avatar?"

Blinking, Yusaku had no idea where he was going with this. It wasn't like the older boy to call him out of concern, if that's even what this was, but he couldn't stop the way his heart fluttered in his chest at the idea of it. "No, I was at school when it hit," he said, deciding to take the call outside. "Are you?"

Through the phone, he could hear Ryoken breathe heavily. "_Yes_," he replied, sounding incredibly irritated by that fact. "That's actually what I'm calling about."

Being stuck as Revolver, who was still feared as a cyber terrorist to most, was not a good thing. Especially not when, like Yusaku, Ryoken's every day life hinged on the fact that his identity was never, ever compromised.

"What do you mean?" While it was problematic, to say the least, that he was stuck as Revolver for the time being, Yusaku wasn't quite sure what he could really do to rectify this situation at all. He was already doing what he could - it wasn't like he could go back in time and stop Ai from ever leaving his duel disk, or something.

Not that he would want to, though. Despite how much he hated Ai's choices, he still deserved the free will he was created with. Yusaku just wished they could've talked things over, talked about his feelings, instead of having his former partner run rampant all over SOL Tech, Link VRAINS, and now the real world, too.

"Is your housing situation the same as it was three months ago?" Answering a question with a question, though Yusaku failed to see the significance _of _said question.

He was well aware that Ryoken had installed bugs in his apartment ages ago; about right after the Tower of Hanoi fiasco. Yusaku had found them day one, but hadn't cared much once he traced them back to Ryoken's boat. It was nice, in a way, to know that the other boy cared in _some _fashion.

Three months ago, however, implied that since they began working together again, he hadn't felt the need to use them. That made Yusaku feel odd, for some reason. "It is," he confirmed, staring up at the sky. The world still looked normal. It was hard to believe that it had somehow been merged with the VR world they all spent so much time in.

"Good," Revolver said, and Yusaku could almost hear the sigh of relief the other boy was clearly trying to fight back. "Is it possible for me to reside there until this is dealt with?"

_That _was an odd request, but it wasn't as if Yusaku would say no to it. He could, thinking about it some, see the appeal.

"I don't mind," Yusaku said into his phone, furrowing his brows the more he thought about what, exactly, Ryoken - Revolver - was suggesting. "But this will take days." _At least_, he thought, but didn't add. "Wouldn't you rather be in your boat?"

He could practically imagine the face the other boy's avatar was making right now, slanted eyes and the frown of his lips and all. Truthfully, Yusaku hated how, after their reunion in Windy's side of Link VRAINS almost nine months ago, he'd almost instantly had the features of Revolver's avatar memorized.

"It's safer with you." Though Yusaku understood, logically, he was only being smart, the words he spoke still made his heart pound deep in his chest and his face flush. "When is the safest time for me to relocate?"

Forcing down a gulp, Yusaku thought about it. "My neighbors are all either out or asleep by about 8," he said after a moment, nodding to himself even though the other boy couldn't see. "I'll make the necessary preparations for you."

Again, Yusaku could imagine just the kind of look on Revolver's face - disappointed that he had to be doing what he was doing, but resigned; understanding that this was the best option he had. "Please do so," Revolver said before hanging up.

It was the closest to a thank you as he would get, and he knew he couldn't blame the other boy. This situation was far from perfect, and it was all Ai's fault. He wasn't sure what his former partner was trying to pull, merging the two realities - how on earth was it even possible, Yusaku _still _didn't understand - and it was making their plans to find him more difficult then it should've been.

Sighing, Yusaku shook his head. He never bothered stocking up on food, finding it easier to just eat takeout or convenience store food when he was low on cash, but he supposed he should make an exception if Ryoken - _Revolver _\- was going to be staying there for who knows how long.

It made sense. He _knew_ it did. If they were together, they could continue working on the search for Ai, and on how to reverse this disastrous turn of events far more easily then they would if they were to stay apart. And on top of that, Yusaku's apartment would be safe from prying eyes or worried neighbors. Nobody in his complex ever spoke to him, and most of them were either elderly or drunkards who probably didn't know the first thing about cyber terrorism and Link VRAINS in general. Revolver's identity would be shielded there, and it was more efficient.

And yet, Yusaku couldn't get his heart to stop beating like a drum. All of the feelings that he'd been trying so hard to keep to himself over the last almost two years were threatening to spill out of him, and he knew this was most certainly not the time for that. They had other, _much _more important tasks to attend to. Dealing with the way that Ryoken made him feel was nowhere even near the top of his agenda, and he would do his best to make sure they stayed out of sight and out of mind.

With that in mind, Yusaku steeled himself. He would grab some groceries, even if he didn't know the first thing that Ryoken liked to eat, and then he would go home and do a quick cleaning job. His apartment had become quite the mess without Roboppy there to clean for him, and he hadn't had the heart to get another cleaning robot. Not when Roboppy had meant so much to him. Regardless, though, he refused to let Ryoken see his apartment like that.

He sighed again, and began his trek to the store. He had a lot of work to do in a short amount of time - a quick glance at his duel disk told him it was already 5. He opened his phone back up as he walked, preparing two text messages – one to Kusanagi, and one to Takeru.

_To: Takeru Homura_  
_From: Yusaku Fujiki  
_ _Are you out of commission?_

_To: Kusanagi_  
_From: Yusaku Fujiki  
_ _Heading home. Revolver called. I'll keep you updated._

It wasn't long before he got a response back, which he knew would be Kusanagi. Takeru took ages to text, if he could even get a message out at all. It was a wonder how he'd ever managed to make his own Link VRAINS account with how terrible he was with technology.

_To: Yusaku Fujiki_  
_From: Kusanagi  
_ _Got it. I'll keep scanning for anything useful._

He was practically almost at the grocery store by the time Takeru's text came through.

_To: Yusaku Fujiki_  
_From: Takeru Homura  
_ _stck as soulburner. dk what to do. leave ths one to u?_

Yusaku nearly groaned aloud at Takeru's abhorrent texting style, but at least this one was decipherable, though it wasn't good news. Takeru wasn't a hacker by any means, but he was an incredible duelist. It was always good to have him around in case of an emergency, but if Yusaku were being honest with himself, he was almost glad for it. Ai was his business, and he knew Takeru would insist on joining him to help if he were able. It was a nice gesture, and Yusaku really _did _appreciate his friendship, but he wasn't comfortable sharing those kinds of thoughts with the other boy, yet.

With a sigh, he shook himself, trying to rid himself of those thoughts for the moment. He had some grocery shopping to do.

* * *

As Yusaku perused the grocery store, he wondered what normal people ate every day, anyways. He normally didn't bother with keeping food in his apartment. It's not like he was there much, anyways, and he had a _thing _about saving money. He had plenty - more than he really needed - in storage, because he forewent things like new clothes and snacks as often as possible. The last time he'd stepped foot in the grocery store, honestly, must've been months and months ago, when Takeru had come over for dinner after a night of playing heroes in Link VRAINS.

He had a basket in his arms, but the only two things he'd put inside of it so far were milk and bread. One of the only things he kept at home was rice, so at least he had that already, but there were just too many options, almost. It was almost overwhelming.

Which was ridiculous, as Ryoken would say. Narrowing his eyes, he fished out his phone, intent on finding one or two recipes and grabbing the necessary ingredients for those at the very least. He wasn't the best cook, but even he could handle simple meals like rice balls or simple curry. Fending for oneself since the age of 12 would do that to someone.

After finding a few easy to follow recipes, he set out down the aisles, this time with a bit more purpose. Yusaku couldn't help but be nervous about Ryoken - _Revolver _\- staying at his place for an indefinite amount of time, considering their history and his feelings for the other boy, but that didn't mean that he didn't want to at least be a decent host. Even with his complicated thoughts, he cared for Revolver a great deal, and wanted him to feel comfortable; as he was sure to be out of his element as well.

As he picked out a variety of things to put into rice balls, Yusaku realized that he was honestly looking forward to seeing the older boy, even despite the less than fortunate circumstances. Every time they got to see each other, be it in person or in Link VRAINS, was appreciated, and this was no different.

He'd never really spoken to anyone about his feelings for Ryoken, but he was sure that both Takeru and Kusanagi were aware of them, anyways. Kusanagi would occasionally let out a teasing remark, especially when Ryoken decided to come by Cafe Nagi to visit, and Takeru… while the two of them didn't see eye to eye, Takeru seemed to understand a bit better now how much Ryoken meant to him.

Ai most certainly had. Ai had been there during their first true meeting in ten years. Ai had been there atop the Tower of Hanoi, listening to Yusaku confess that now that his revenge was over, his final goal was to find a new future together with his special person - even if his special person had turned out to be his greatest adversary over those months.

Frowning, Yusaku tried shake the thoughts of Ai from his head for the moment. He could deal with it when the time came to, but right now, he had an apartment to fix up and a crisis to solve. Even if that crisis was intrinsically tied to Ai, it didn't matter.

It _couldn't _matter.

Maybe, he mused to himself, it was for the best that Revolver was going to be staying with him for the time being. He likely wouldn't allow himself to drift off into such complicated thought trains when Revolver was there. And honestly, even if he wanted to think about it, he'd have other, more pressing things on his mind.

Nearing the check out counter, he shook his head. He needed to focus. This wasn't the time to be thinking about Ai, or Ryoken, or Revolver or _whoever_, and he knew it.

Now if only he could get his head to agree.

* * *

He had just finished putting his laundry away when he heard a knock on the door. "It's me," a very, very familiar voice called, and Yusaku felt hiself tense and untense a full three times before he managed to move to open the door.

"Come in," he said, stepping aside so Revolver could make his way down the stairs, though he didn't move his eyes off of the sight in front of him.

While he had been out and doing errands, he hadn't been paying much attention to the people around him. He'd seen on the news website he scoured earlier that day of the apparent changes in the world, but to see _Revolver _really in front of him, in the flesh, was something completely different.

In Link VRAINS, there was always a sense that you weren't _really _there. No matter how real everything felt, no matter how much your brain was convinced you still needed to breathe or could feel things normally, there was still this emptiness that just wasn't present in real life. Yusaku, in all honesty, preferred it in some ways - preferred the fact that he no longer had to worry about breathing, no longer could feel his blood pulsing when he didn't want to or need to.

The same was true for clothing. In Link VRAINS, as Playmaker, he donned a catsuit that clung to his skin as tightly as possible, but the material wasn't _real_. He wasn't even sure a material like the one he had imagined existed. It clung to him well, stayed form fitting, but allowed for easy movement and was incredibly flexible. Looking at Revolver, in his mostly white body suit with a cape and heels, in the real world, was certainly… something.

Revolver, however, didn't seem to mind or even notice his piercing stare, and waltzed right into his apartment as if he'd done so a thousand times. As he looked around, he coughed into his hand before speaking.

"I appreciate you accommodating me," he said, and Yusaku nearly rolled his eyes.

"As you said, it made more sense." He really didn't want to get into that, anyways. "Make yourself comfortable. It's not much," he admitted with a shrug, "but you can put stuff on the desk. Bathroom door is underneath the stairs."

There had never been much to move in the first place, but whatever bits of clutter he had lying around had made their way into their respective places, leaving the desk and only table clean enough. He didn't bother explaining anything about the place, however, knowing that if Ryoken ever used the cameras he bothered to hack that he'd know where everything else was.

Neither of them were terribly interested in small talk, so once Revolver had situated himself at the small table with his laptop, he looked over to Yusaku. "How much information have you gathered?"

Ignoring the absurd pang of disappointment that they were getting straight to business, he moved himself to his desk, taking out his own laptop. The computer that sat there was ancient, and while he preferred using it most of the time, he didn't feel like waiting for it to boot up. Once his laptop was ready to go, he began listing off the news articles he'd looked through, to which Revolver listened patiently.

"Have you begun checking the code? I've been through most of it, but have yet to see anything of interest."

"Same for me," Yusaku admitted, displeased with that new piece of knowledge. Even _he _still had trouble with Ignis algorithms, but Revolver knew them well. If he didn't find anything noteworthy, that meant there was likely nothing to it. "Are we still able to scan Link VRAINS?"

Now that things had merged together, he wasn't so sure it was possible. It had been next on his list of things to try before Revolver had called him that afternoon.

"Sort of," Revolver said, aggravation evident in his tone. "We can still check backups and previous versions, but the current version doesn't show up at all. I had initially thought it might be something akin to Mirror Link VRAINS, but the Dark Ignis is clever. I can't figure it out."

"Ai," Yusaku corrected automatically, before clamping his mouth shut again. He didn't want to get into it with Revolver over this, especially not when they had to be in such a small, enclosed space with each other for who knew how long.

Surprisingly, however, Revolver didn't respond to it, instead turning to Yusaku from his laptop screen. "You know him best," he said instead. "Where do you recommend we look?"

The look on his face was one Yusaku couldn't quite place, even with how open and expressive his second avatar was compared to his original one. Something in his stomach did an odd flip at it.

More importantly, though, was what Revolver had said. "I don't know." He ground his teeth after he forced the words out, looking down at his keyboard in frustration. "I have no idea what's going on in his head right now. I wish I did." _So I could bring him home, _was the unspoken end of that sentence. He hadn't wanted to get into this with anyone, let alone Revolver, but he felt stupid for thinking they could be in the same room at the moment and _not _have it be brought up at all.

"Think about it," Revolver said, a bit of the normal edge to his voice disappearing. "Why do you think Ai would want to merge Link VRAINS and the real world?"

That was easier to answer. "He still probably wants to co-exist," Yusaku said. "But he's the last of his kind. He doesn't know how. He probably wants to make a world where he's not so different." The words came out without thinking, but Yusaku was almost positive that would be his reasoning. As much as Ai was confusing him right now, it was the only thing he could think of, based on everything they knew.

As much as Yusaku couldn't understand his partner's actions, why he had gone off the deep end like this, he wanted so badly to hope that Ai was just lost and lonely. When he was a child, alone in the world after the Lost Incident, he'd felt that way, too. It drove people to do crazy and sometimes stupid things. It was why Yusaku had ended up alone at age 12, after leaving the foster care system he'd been placed in without a trace on his birthday.

Nodding in approval, Revolver moved his laptop over a bit before responding, so he could meet Yusaku's eyes a bit more easily. Yusaku had rarely seen Revolver like this - in problem solving mode. His usual intensity was toned down, or more so, it was completely focused on the task at hand. It was interesting. Almost nice in a way.

"With that in mind, where do you think we should begin our search?"

If Ai's goal was coexistence, albeit in his own, weird way, Yusaku thought, he likely wouldn't want any of his code to make it outside of the walls of where he was residing. "SOL Tech," Yusaku said after a moment. "We'd have to hack into the old SOL Tech database." The one and Ai had hacked into together, to find out the truth of his past, so long ago. It was symbolic, he thought, and Ai seemingly was all about that, right now. He wasn't really sure if that's where the answers would be hidden, but if they could find them there without having to confront Ai directly, that would be all the better.

Truthfully, Yusaku didn't think it would be possible. He had a feeling that things would come down to them having to track Ai down. But for now, he'd pretend that wasn't the case.

In Link VRAINS, since it was a virtual world, hacking could be done inside the system, using your own avatar. It was how he'd found that same vault containing information on the Hanoi Project, so long ago. With things merged, however, it likely wouldn't be possible. Everything seemed to follow the rules of the real world, at least for the most part.

Nodding again, Revolver moved his laptop back in front of him. "That's where we'll start, then."

* * *

That was easier said then done.

SOL Technologies had never been _easy _to hack into, even for hackers of Ryoken and Yusaku's caliber, but since Ai had fired everyone he'd seemingly also redone every single line of code himself. It was infuriating to look at for too long, and by the time they'd settled down into a rhythm, it had already been pushing 9 at night.

Pushing himself away from his laptop, Revolver snapped it shut and heaved out a sigh. Yusaku realized, in that moment, that he was probably missing the rest of his Knights right then.

"Let's try again tomorrow," Yusaku said, checking the clock on his phone. Only 11. Not too bad. "Do you want some food? I can make rice balls." He didn't mention it was practically _all _he could make, but he didn't think that mattered much.

Revolver, much to Yusaku's surprise, took off his mask. "I can remove what was previously programmed that way," he said in response to Yusaku's staring. Yusaku didn't move his eyes away, however. Despite the face being a bit different from Ryoken's, Revolver's face was beautiful all on it's own. It was beautiful _with _the mask on, and without it… Yusaku forced down a gulp. "But no, thank you. Just coffee, if you wouldn't mind."

Had he always been this polite? Yusaku wasn't sure, but he wasn't complaining. "Yeah, sure." He pushed himself out of his own desk chair, making his way into the kitchen. It was cramped, another reason he usually didn't bother, but the coffee maker Kusanagi had bought him two years ago as a Christmas present was at least quick and easy to use.

It had been alright, he realized as he waited for the machine to brew, when they were working together. He hadn't been as terribly distracted as he could've been; his thoughts really mostly on trying to solve this problem. When Revolver had first arrived, Yusaku had been convinced he wouldn't be able to focus all night, but he was glad that had turned out to be an incorrect hypothesis.

Now, though, he was growing anxious - not in the normal, bad way, but an almost… excited kind of anxious. Neither of them would be working on their laptops for the rest of the night, and from what Yusaku understood, Revolver was as much of an insomniac as he was. The two of them would likely be awake for at least an hour or two longer, especially if they were having some coffee before trying to settle down into bed.

_Bed. Shit_. Yusaku, truthfully, hadn't fully figured out where he would be sleeping. In all honesty, though he had previously not let Ryoken hack into his VR room, he trusted the older boy enough now to let him sleep in there, but thinking about it more as he waited for the coffee to finish… he felt bad about it. In all likelihood, he would give Revolver his bed, and _he'd _sleep on the floor in the VR room. He could grab his winter blankets out of storage, and that would do for padding. He'd slept on worse, after all.

Pouring two cups, Yusaku made his way back out into the main room again, handing one mug off to Revolver who thanked him wordlessly.

"Is it weird?" Yusaku couldn't help bust ask after they'd both settled again, peering at Revolver curiously. Being in Link VRAINS was so inherently different from being in the real world that he couldn't even imagine crossing the two over - even with his link sense.

After taking a sip from his mug, Revolver rolled his shoulders a bit. "A bit," he admitted carefully. "I don't really need to do things like eat, but I definitely feel fatigued and I _want _to drink something or eat something, but it doesn't feel like a necessity. It feels like if SOL Tech had ever bothered to evolve Link VRAINS."

Nodding, Yusaku supposed he could understand that. He'd also had all day to get used to being that way, as well. "Do you still need to breathe?" It was something that, technically, one didn't need to do in Link VRAINS, but most did anyways out of habit.

"Surprisingly, yes," Revolver answered. "I thought the same earlier. It is truly like he blended two different realities."

Yusaku wasn't sure if it was a slip of the tongue or whether he really meant to call Ai by a gendered pronoun, but he wasn't about to call him out on it. When he had faded away after fighting Lightning, Yusaku had foolishly hoped that Revolver had grown to accept that with free will came the fact that the Ignis could make their own decisions about humanity - including wanting to co-exist with them.

Now he'd never know for sure. It was a damn shame.

"Does anything else come off?" Yusaku asked without thinking, but as soon as the words were out of his mouth he wanted to slam his head against his desk. He meant like Revolver's mask, but he wasn't stupid. He may not be as infatuated with other people as other boys his age, but when it came to Revolver…

Yusaku gulped, trying his best to will the flush from his face to no avail.

Revolver blinked at him for a minute, seemingly trying to process what he had said. After a few moments of tense silence, he nodded. "This whole costume is programmed to come off. I needed to be able to change into different avatars at will," he explained, his words curt. Yusaku didn't want to indulge himself in _why _that might be. "I can put on other things, as well. However, my face is too recognizable after everything that's been publicized. I didn't want to risk it."

_That _was certainly true. Revolver's face was definitely one that couldn't be mistaken for anyone else's, and despite his cyber terrorist status, Yusaku knew very well how many people were drawn to the mysterious avatar. Just as people would recognize Playmaker in a heartbeat, regardless of what he was wearing. He was glad he'd decided to give his own avatar a bit sharper of a face.

The conversation fizzled out quickly after that, Yusaku cursing himself for not being able to hold his tongue. It _was _an honest question - that get up did not look comfortable to sleep in - but he knew that it had not come from an honest place, much as he'd like to think it did.

It was going to be a difficult few nights, that was for sure. With a sigh, once he'd finished his coffee, he got up to fish some pajamas out of his drawers and headed into the bathroom. "I'll be out in a few," he remembered to add, completely unused to having someone else in the house with him.

* * *

Once they were both getting themselves settled, awkwardly trying to accommodate the other in their nightly routines, Yusaku quickly realized that he had no idea how to bring up the fact that he wanted Revolver to take his bed. The few times Takeru had stayed over, he'd just thrown some extra blankets at him and the other boy hadn't even cared. He knew almost instinctively that it wouldn't be so easy with Revolver.

"Where should I be sleeping?" Revolver asked, making Yusaku toss aside his thoughts and scramble for a suitable answer.

"I can sleep on the floor," Yusaku said firmly, refusing to meet Revolver's eyes. It wasn't as if he'd never done it before. In fact, he'd slept in far worse places. "You're my guest, so it's not a problem."

Really, it wasn't about Revolver being his _guest _or anything of the sort. The fact of the matter was, he didn't want to argue with Revolver over this matter. If the older boy would agree, since he was the guest, it would make things all the easier. Guilt would eat him alive if he forced Revolver to sleep on the floor while he got to use his own bed, in his own body, no matter how uncomfortable that bed might be. And sharing a bed was not anywhere close to an option. There was no way.

Revolver's narrowed eyes told Yusaku that he wasn't going to make this choice easy on him, though. "Ridiculous," he said, scoffing a little. Even though it was just the two of them there, out of sight and out of the public's watchful eye, he didn't tone his voice down at all. It was amazing how different he sounded, while he was in the real world, compared to Yusaku. "I will sleep on the floor."

Yusaku forced himself to exhale through his nose, lips pressed in a firm line. He didn't want to fight with Revolver over something so minuscule, and he certainly didn't want to get him agitated. They'd been on decent terms all night, minus his slip up. He wanted to keep it that way. "I've slept on worse," he said honestly, and the older boy flinched visibly.

_Shit_, Yusaku realized too late. That was most definitely the wrong thing to say.

"Exactly." Revolver moved closer to Yusaku, then, closer than he'd been all night. Despite their size difference - Revolver had a few inches on Playmaker, who Yusaku had modeled slightly taller than himself, after all - he didn't feel intimidated, though he could feel Revolver's breath on his face. "You've slept on worse. I won't take away the comfort of your bed in your own home. I simply won't allow it."

When he put it like that, so close to him, it was hard to deny him anything. Ryoken was beautiful, but Revolver was something else. Yusaku didn't think about it much, whether he preferred one over the other - especially since he tried hard not to think of his feelings for the other boy _at all _\- but there was something otherworldly about Revolver's eyes that made it hard to say no to him.

Instead of agreeing, however, he took a breath, and looked up at him so their eyes were locked. "No," he stated plainly, trying to will the heat to leave his face. "It's my house, Revolver. I want you to take the bed."

They were clearly at an impasse; neither willing to back down. There were a million things running through Yusaku's head, not all of them nice.

Revolver was close enough that Yusaku could feel his breath fanning out over his face. Desperately, he tried to keep his mind from wandering, but it was proving to be more difficult than he'd thought. For so long, now - since seeing Ryoken in person for the first time in a decade, really - he'd _wanted_. It was initially a foreign experience to Yusaku, wanting someone in that way. Wanting to be close to him, wanting to be near him at all times. Not just in his presence, but wanting to hold his hand. Wanting to feel how soft his lips really were against his own.

Foreign feelings were putting it lightly. When he was a child, he'd wanted nothing more than to meet the boy who had saved him, who had given him the hope he needed to get through each and every day, no matter how hard. Those feelings had reached an all time high the night on top of the Tower of Hanoi, and since then, they hadn't left.

It's just, now he wanted more than a friendship. Yusaku wondered if he had really been in love with him since before they'd even met again, face to face. It wouldn't surprise him - he was the only person Yusaku had ever felt like he could be himself around, because they were from the same world. Even the other victims, like Takeru, or Jin on his good days, weren't on quite the same wavelength as Yusaku and Ryoken were.

For a while, Yusaku wondered if that had all been in his head, but every time they worked together, he knew that it wasn't. They were both able to talk to each other so freely… which resulted in things like earlier, where Yusaku just blurted something out - something he rarely, if ever, does.

That just made it harder, in all honesty, to keep his mouth shut. But he knew it wouldn't be right. Especially when Revolver was essentially a hostage in his house, willing hostage or not.

"We'll both take the bed, then," Revolver spoke up, snapping Yusaku out of his thoughts only to short circuit them.

The heat that had risen to his face from their proximity seemed to _burn_ now. Yusaku wasn't as disgusting as some of the boys that he'd read accounts from online, but he wasn't _stupid_. Revolver saying something like that, when they were so close together… he couldn't help where his mind wandered off to.

"N-no," Yusaku managed to get out, coughing over the word. "_Stop_. It's fine. I can sleep on the floor."

The way that Revolver was now lazily smirking at him instantly had him on edge, and had the heat on his face moving down somewhere it really, really shouldn't be. "I'm the guest, right?" He asked, in the same haughty tone he used whenever he knew he was about to win a duel. "I don't want to kick you out of your own bed in your own apartment, and you won't seem to budge. It's the proper compromise, wouldn't you agree?"

_Shit. _Revolver was too stubborn and too annoying for Yusaku to disagree with. They'd be fighting there until they were both blue in the face, and by then, the sun would be up, and it would've been all moot anyways. He could deal with it for one or two nights. It wasn't like he slept much, anyways. He was quite used to functioning with little to no sleep. He'd just have to make some extra coffee to sneak with him into class.

"_Fine_," Yusaku ground out, looking away from the older boy and down at his feet in embarrassment. "Fine."

* * *

He settled into his bed first, pushing himself as far off to the side as he possibly could. Never in his life had he ever shared a bed with someone before, and Yusaku couldn't believe the circumstances behind it. There was nobody else he'd even _consider _being comfortable doing this with, but this was still…

He frowned, pushing his face into the crook of his arm. This was almost too much for him.

The bed dipped in an unfamiliar way when Revolver sat down on the other edge, a light sigh coming out of his lips. Yusaku was convinced his face would be permanently red at this rate. Curling up in on himself a little more, Yusaku tried his best to pretend that this was just a dream or something of the sort. Even admitting to himself that he had dreams about the older boy was probably easier than facing reality at the moment.

"Goodnight, Fujiki," Revolver said, in a surprisingly gentle voice. The red that was plastered onto his cheeks made its way to the tips of his ears, and Yusaku scrunched his eyes tightly.

"Goodnight, Revolver." If Revolver noticed how breathy his voice sounded then, he didn't say anything, and for that, Yusaku was grateful.

* * *

It seemed like mere minutes after he'd said goodnight that Yusaku was out like a light, and Revolver couldn't help the small smile that formed on his lips because of it. It was so hard, trying to convince himself that there was nothing there, when they were _so close_ like this.

But, Revolver supposed, it didn't matter if there was anything there. It didn't matter how he felt, or how Yusaku might feel, because the truth was still that Revolver had no future. No matter how badly the other boy wanted to bring him to find a new path together, Revolver knew there was only one path left for him to take. He'd already accepted that.

Once the Ai fiasco was over and dealt with, he and the other Knights were turning themselves in. Regardless of Yusaku's opinion on his wrongdoings, he was still a cyber terrorist. He had almost committed mass genocide for the sole purpose of clearing his father's mistakes off the table. He had only stopped it because he had some shred of honor left in him, after everything, and Yusaku had won fair and square. If Yusaku hadn't fought to his best ability, if they'd dueled for only a few minutes longer…

Revolver shook his head, exhaling sharply. No matter how nice of a fantasy this was - being at Yusaku's apartment, no matter how crappy, alone together and in each other's company… He looked at his hands, and placed them on his face. This wasn't his face. Not really.

It was a solid reminder that he still had one last mission to complete. Two, if he counted turning himself into the authorities at the end of all of this.

Still, though, for the time being…

He looked over at Yusaku, watching the way his chest rose and fell with each slow breath. His hands were curled in on themselves; face tucked carefully into his elbow. For the time being, Revolver could memorize the features of the way he slept, memorize the way his face had gotten bright red when he'd originally suggested they share the bed.

Part of that had been out of the reasons he'd stated - he really _would _feel bad about kicking Yusaku out of his own bed, no matter uncomfortable and old this bed might've been - but part of it had undeniably been selfish. Part of him had wanted to know what it was like to be in the same space as this person, to know how he slept and how it felt to sleep comfortably by his side.

Something for the road, so to speak.

Revolver sighed, forcing himself to lie down and tried to keep his back to the mattress. He didn't trust himself to turn over. Knowing his traitorous heart, he'd end up making the poor boy uncomfortable by doing something stupid in his sleep.

This was going to be a long, long night.

* * *

Yusaku woke up, his heart pounding, but something in him reminded himself not to jolt out of bed in the way he normally did. Though, really, he didn't really _need _to anyways. It wasn't a nightmare that he was waking up from - nothing of the sort.

Truthfully, he didn't even remember falling asleep. He remembered the odd tone of voice Revolver had told him goodnight, he remembered telling the older boy goodnight back, and then… Nothing. It should've surprised him how easily he was able to pass out despite his anxieties, but it didn't. Not really. Even if he tried his hardest to deny it, Yusaku knew that the person sleeping next to him was the one person he could trust implicitly.

Even when he did not so great things, or made choices Yusaku disagreed with. At his core, he knew that person would never really want to hurt him. Maybe that person didn't care for him in the same way he cared for him, but there was something there, of that, Yusaku was sure. He wouldn't have programmed Pandor the way he did if there wasn't. Wouldn't have called Ai by his name if there wasn't. Wouldn't have called him that afternoon if there wasn't.

He snuck a peek at the older boy lying next to him, seemingly comfortable and breathing slowly; clearly fast asleep. Yusaku's heart still pounded as the images from his dream came to mind - Revolver's face on his, his body weight pushing him into the bed, his - Yusaku shook his head, and forced himself to curl back up on what he'd dictated as his edge of the bed.

Those kinds of thoughts weren't normally welcome, but especially not right now. Not when the object of his affections was literally right next to him, trying to get a good night's rest after an incredibly stressful day full of staring at seemingly unending code. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Revolver had trusted him enough to ask if he could stay at his apartment, and he wouldn't let him down.

Even if his own head was screaming at him. Taking another deep breath, Yusaku tried to focus on relaxing each part of his body, one at a time. Even if he couldn't get back to sleep, it would be better than nothing so long as his body was rested somewhat. He could work on less. _Had _worked on less.

This was going to be a long few nights.

* * *

Blinking blearily, Yusaku moved his arms to stretch like he always did, but this time, he found himself trapped. Panic began settling into his veins, and his eyes shot open and he realized he was staring straight into Revolver's thankfully covered chest.

Instantly, Yusaku was blushing from his neck straight to the roots of his hair. Somehow, in the middle of the night, one of them - or both of them, he wasn't sure - had turned to face each other and somehow ended up like… _this_.

He surveyed himself mentally, not daring to move his head around for fear of waking up Revolver. He could feel Revolver's arm slung loosely around his waist, and could tell their legs were completely intertwined with each others.

How had this happened? Yusaku had no idea. When he'd awoken in the middle of the night, he'd been tightly pressed to his designated side of the bed still, Revolver comfortable on his back on his. He hadn't even remembered falling back asleep again, but he supposed that didn't really matter now.

Whichever of them had caused this, in general, Yusaku supposed didn't really matter. All that mattered was he had to figure out how to squirm out of Revolver's hold without waking him.

...Though, Yusaku supposed, he could wait a few extra minutes. He probably wouldn't ever get this kind of chance again; being so close to Revolver in such an intimate position. Revolver or Ryoken, for that matter. He hated himself for thinking like that, but he couldn't help it, especially not after his dreams from the night before. Even after he'd woken up and fallen back asleep, his previous dreams had just picked up where they'd left off, only this time going into seemingly _more _detail.

So for a few more minutes, Yusaku could be selfish. He could enjoy being in Revolver's arms, comfortable in his bed, just this once.

* * *

Somehow, he'd managed to sneak out of bed without waking the older boy up, and Yusaku thanked any and all higher powers that existed for it. Glancing at his phone, he saw it was only 6 in the morning - that was plenty of time to get ready for school if he felt like going, or get an early start on trying to figure out the best course of action considering the current situation. With a sigh of relief, he headed into the bathroom to throw on his school uniform. Even if he wasn't heading into school that day, it was still comfortable and clean, so it would do for now.

After throwing it on, he went ahead to start up some coffee for the both of them. He didn't know how much Ryoken normally drank in the mornings, but Yusaku figured if he was anything like him, it was far more than necessary.

"You're up early," Revolver's voice greeted him mere minutes into starting the pot of coffee, startling Yusaku more than he'd care to admit. "Oh, that's right. It's Saturday."

Still a school day, Yusaku knew he meant. "I'm not going," he said with a shrug. "Too much to work on."

It wasn't a lie, either. He'd thought about it for all of two seconds after Revolver had spoken, but it made more sense to stay home. Skipping wasn't something he wasn't familiar with, anyways, and it's not as if he needed the education. Despite his absolutely abysmal attendance record, he still held the top score in his class when he actually felt like trying. And even besides all that, he had two part time jobs, which allowed him to live on his own even at 17. University wasn't really on his radar.

"That's ridiculous." Revolver's counter was unexpected, and Yusaku's eyebrows shot up. "Schooling is important. You shouldn't sacrifice your future for this." _For me_ was the implied ending, and that made Yusaku's eyes narrow dangerously.

"Isn't that my choice to make?" He asked, crossing his arms over his chest. The coffee was almost certainly finished by now, but he didn't care. "I am perfectly capable of making my own decisions." If he wanted to skip school to help out the person he cared most about in the world, so be it. It wasn't as if he hadn't before. Most of his first year at Den City High School had been spent running around Link VRAINS as Playmaker, trying to save the boy who stood in front of him now with a hand on his hip. "Besides, it's not like they can teach me much anyways."

Revolver frowned deeply, moving in close to Yusaku again, just as he had the night before. Even with the anger surging through him, Yusaku found himself backing up into his small kitchen counter, trying to regain distance between them. Revolver, however, just moved in another step, closing the distance once more.

"You should graduate," he said, glaring sharply. He still hadn't put his mask back on, so none of the expression was hidden from view. "You have a future to live for now. Start acting like it."

_I don't want a future if it's not with you _nearly sprang from Yusaku's lips, but he clamped his mouth shut tightly, not wanting that to slip. That was far too telling, and he sincerely doubted the other boy wanted to have that kind of conversation right now.

Even with how aggravated he was at Revolver's words, Yusaku also couldn't deny the happiness he felt at them. He wouldn't bother trying to convince him to go if he didn't care. It was just more proof that he really _did _care for Yusaku's well being, no matter how backwards and roundabout the ways he showed it were. With a sigh, and looking away from his intense crystalline eyes once again, Yusaku conceded defeat.

Going to school wasn't really such a terrible idea, anyways. There were plenty of people who might have more information on the situation at hand. "Fine," he ground out, still feeling a bit weird about giving into Revolver's demands. In his own house, no less. "I'll go. But no promises I'll stay the whole day."

It was rare he did that, anyways, but Revolver didn't need to know that right now. "Fine." The older boy stepped back, allowing Yusaku to move again. Part of him, albeit a small part of him at the moment, mourned the newfound space in between their bodies. "Go get ready, then."

* * *

Maybe sending Yusaku off to school in that manner had been a mistake, Revolver realized not long after he'd stormed out of the house. Before leaving, he'd left a mug of coffee ready for him, and a note that said anything in the house was free for him to use - including any and all food in the cramped kitchen.

Clearly, Yusaku cared about him deeply, and if Revolver was right, he cared about him in a way that he really, really shouldn't. Maybe that was why he was so desperate to get him out of the house and away from him, and off to a path of pursuing a future that he couldn't obtain. He didn't know. He wasn't sure of anything at the moment. There was too much swirling around in his head, driving him mad.

At this rate, there was no way he was going to get much done in the ways of searching. He could look through code as much as he wanted, but even with his level of skill autopilot wouldn't cut it. Ai - the Dark Ignis, he corrected himself - was a worthy opponent, if there ever was one. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised about that. The Dark Ignis was born from Yusaku, who had turned into not only one of the best duelists to ever grace Link VRAINS, but also an incredibly adept programmer and hacker.

It wasn't fair how easily his thoughts turned to Yusaku, Revolver thought with a scowl. Yes, sure, he was in his home, a home he'd looked at hundreds of times through a computer screen. This was a space he was, technically, familiar with. It shouldn't _matter _how intimate it felt; being alone with Yusaku day in and day out in his own space. He wasn't there for anything other than business.

His excuses sounded weak even inside his own head, and he allowed himself to slump down on the small table. Did Yusaku live with these contradicting feelings, he wondered? He was fairly certain the younger boy did, with the way he blushed whenever Revolver moved too close or said something that could be taken in the wrong way. It was endearing, in a way, to see the normally expressionless boy react like that to him. As Playmaker, he never seemed to have any reactions whatsoever, but Revolver wondered if that was just how he'd coded his own avatar. He'd done that, once upon a time, with his original avatar.

Sighing, Revolver opened his laptop, trying to force himself to work. He needed to get his mind off of Yusaku. His dreams the night before hadn't been much of a help in that sense, and he wondered if that was also part of the reason he cornered Yusaku that morning. When the other boy had tried to put distance in between them by walking into the counter, Revolver couldn't help himself but move in close again, practically pinning him against it. He'd had… admittedly similar dreams, and they hadn't yet left his mind, even though he'd been up for almost two hours already.

He could so clearly remember them, too. His mouth on Yusaku's, hot and wet, as he pressed his hips into -

Shaking his head, he opened everything up from last night, including the internet browser to check for any news updates on the status of things. Considering he was trapped in his Link VRAINS avatar, one would think his mind wouldn't keep going to Yusaku, and yet here he was.

The sooner he solved this, Revolver rationalized, the sooner he could leave Yusaku's apartment. The sooner they finished the Dark Ignis, the sooner he would be able to turn himself in. Steeling himself, he began searching through the newest articles and videos of the day.

_Yes, _he thought. _This is for the best_.

* * *

"Is something wrong, Fujiki?"

Yusaku's head snapped up to look at a concerned Aoi. He'd completely spaced out, he realized, not for the first time that day. In fact, he'd been spacing out a lot that day - not at all gathering information like he had agreed with himself to do. It was really the only reason he was _at _school, and yet here he was, completely out of it. He sighed, shaking his head.

Aoi Zaizen had taken to sitting with him - and Takeru, usually, but he had texted Yusaku that he would be out for the moment since he was unfortunately stuck as the all too recognizable Soulburner - after she'd learned about their Link VRAINS aliases earlier in the year, and Yusaku couldn't honestly say he minded. He didn't know the girl well, but she wasn't a bad person, and she knew who he was and didn't ask too many questions. It was about as close as he would get to real friendship.

"It's nothing," he said, ripping open the melon bread he'd bought himself for lunch. It wasn't much, but he didn't have much of an appetite after his fight with Revolver that morning.

Instead of dropping it like Yusaku would've liked her too, however, Aoi frowned at him, pushing her bento box to the side. There was nobody else on the roof, so he _could _talk to her if he really wanted to, but he really _didn't _want to. It was embarrassing enough to think about it on his own time, let alone say it out loud to another person.

Taking a deep breath, she tried again. "You've been really out of it all day," she said, though not unkindly. "I know Homura is stuck as Soulburner, but if you need someone to talk to, I'm happy to listen. We're friends now, you know?"

_Friends_. That's what she'd called them that day on the bench - or rather, said that she'd liked to become his friend, anyway. She'd also told him that it was okay if fighting Ai was too painful for him, and to leave it to them if he couldn't handle it. Aoi Zaizen was, if nothing else, a kind person, Yusaku knew. And he supposed she wasn't wrong. In the last few months, they had seen each other often, and worked together. After Ai had taken her brother away, he and Takeru had even gone to see her to check on her. That certainly wasn't something one would do if they didn't care about someone, at least a little bit, Yusaku conceded.

"It's about Revolver," he said with a sigh, partially as a warning to see if she'd even want to talk about it. Even though she was aware of who Revolver really was, and they'd worked together twice now, he knew she wasn't exactly his biggest fan.

"What about him?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

Now it was Yusaku's turn to take a deep breath. What about him, indeed. "He's stuck as Revolver," he started, "and he's staying at my place because of it." It wasn't exactly a lot of information, but it was a start, he supposed.

Aoi, however, seemed to think the opposite. Her eyes widened, and a small blush spread over her face. "Alone?" She asked, looking down at her lap. "I didn't know the two of you were like that." Her voice was quiet, and Yusaku almost wanted to bury himself alive at the implication.

"We're _not_," he stressed, red spreading over his own face now, too. "We're not like that."

Again, Aoi surprised him, this time by smiling at him. "Your face tells me otherwise," she said, but quickly raised her hands in the universal _calm down _position before he could refute her again. "Even if you're not like that," she continued, "something about him staying there is bothering you, since you even mentioned it to me. Do you want to talk about it?"

Pressing his face into his hands, Yusaku nodded. "Please don't tell anyone," he mumbled into his hands before taking another deep breath. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this." He really, really didn't. He hadn't even told Kusanagi or Takeru - or even Ai, back when he was stuck to his wrist and his partner, not trying to do… whatever it was that he was trying so hard to do. He'd barely even told _himself_. "I'm in love with Ryoken, and having him be so close is," Yusaku paused, trying to fetch the right word out, but coming up completely blank.

"Difficult?" Aoi supplied, and Yusaku nodded, face still firmly in his hands.

"Difficult," he agreed. "Really, really difficult. Because I know he doesn't return the feelings."

Even though Yusaku couldn't see her, he could feel her shuffle closer to him, though she didn't put her hands on him at all. "Is it okay with you, if he doesn't?"

It was a question he'd thought about before, and he'd always come to the same conclusion. "Yes," he said honestly. "I just want him to be part of my life. But it still hurts."

Aoi hummed, and Yusaku could tell she really wanted to touch him, for some reason. He supposed that was probably normal, when comforting a friend. "I think you'll be okay, if you truly are okay with just being his friend," she told him, and he could feel the sincerity in her words. "You can't control his feelings, you can only control yourself. So long as you're happy with what you have, it will stop hurting someday."

The way she spoke, it almost sounded like she understood what he was doing through. Yusaku realized he didn't know all that much about Aoi, at least not really. Sure, he knew everything listed in her files, the grades she got, what she was like in Link VRAINS, but personal facts about her or her life… they were all things he had yet to learn. He'd never really cared, before, but now he was genuinely a bit curious.

Yusaku didn't call her on it, though. "Thank you," he said instead, slowly letting himself up from his hands. "And sorry. I'm not good at this friend thing."

At that, Aoi laughed. "You're doing just fine," she promised, returning to eating her bento. "Good luck, Fujiki."

He would most certainly need it.

* * *

Arriving in front of his apartment, Yusaku wasn't sure what, exactly, to do. It'd been years since he felt anxious about entering the building, though this anxiety was something very different. Revolver was, almost certainly, still there; probably scanning through lines of code, trying to figure out anything useful for them to work with.

For a long time now, he'd known about the depth of his feelings for the other boy, but saying them aloud, to another person… it almost made it feel more real. Before, if he wanted to - at least, when they weren't sharing a house, or were in Link VRAINS with other things to focus on - he could pretend he didn't feel a thing out of the ordinary for his special person. He could even convince himself that he just cared about Ryoken as a friend, and friendship was all he would ever want.

After sharing a bed with him, waking up trapped in his arms, Yusaku knew he couldn't pretend any longer.

It made going up the stairs into his apartment all the more difficult.

Thinking about Aoi's words, about how he'd be okay so long as he was truly okay with just being friends, complicated things even further. On the one hand, of course Yusaku was okay with just having him in his life. For a decade, all he'd ever wanted was to save the person who saved him; who gave him the hope to keep on living in his darkest moments. On the other, Yusaku had always been the kind of person to tackle his problems head on, never holding himself back. If there was something he didn't like, or wanted to change, he'd do it. He didn't care about the consequences, most of the time.

Which made this problem so troubling. Logically, Yusaku knew that since he'd been in love with Ryoken for so long, his actions wouldn't change now that he'd admitted it to himself. He also knew that the likelihood of Ryoken never seeing him again if the other boy put two and two together was very low, as well - especially at the moment, when things with Ai were getting so out of hand.

It was after that worried Yusaku. After everything was dealt with, in Ryoken's eyes, would he really have a reason to seek him out anymore? To answer his calls, to stop by Cafe Nagi at all? The answer, to Yusaku, was obvious: absolutely not. That wasn't even factoring in his whole _jail _thing, which Yusaku couldn't even begin to wrap his head around.

Shaking his head, he opened the door to the apartment building with force. It was useless trying to think about all this, right now. Regardless of his feelings, it didn't change or fix the current situation, which was of the utmost importance to deal with. The entirety of Den City was waiting on a fix, really. So many lives were stuck in a stand still - Takeru and Ryoken's included - until they could either reverse what Ai did, or convince the Ignis to do it for them.

* * *

As he expected, Revolver was sitting at his small table near his bed, laptop opened and eyes glued to it; though unexpectedly, he had about three empty mugs surrounding him. Without a word, Yusaku dropped his school bag near the door, and moved to take the mugs back into the kitchen.

"Welcome back," Revolver said, absentmindedly. It sounded more like a habit then actually thinking about what he was saying or who he was saying it to.

It was disgustingly domestic, the view, and Yusaku hated himself for the way he burned it into his memory. "Thank you," he said, quickly moving himself into the kitchen with the empty mugs. Unsurprisingly, there was coffee left on the pot, so Yusaku grabbed one of the mugs and filled it back up, setting it down in front of Revolver. "I'm glad I bought extra."

It was meant to just be a teasing remark - Yusaku, too, went through cups upon cups of coffee when he was totally focused on a task, and trying to hack into Ai's version of SOL Tech was not exactly _easy_. He'd likely need coffee soon, himself. However, at his words, Revolver's eyes snapped up to his, a frown etching its way onto his face.

"I'll repay you for that," Revolver told him seriously, and Yusaku frowned right back.

Clenching his fists at his sides, Yusaku shook his head. "That's not what I meant."

Narrowing his eyes, Revolver stood up from the table, and Yusaku once again realized how tall he was as his avatar. He wasn't in anyway short - he was actually a bit taller than average, at least in comparison to his classmates - but Revolver, a few inches taller than Ryoken himself, felt like an entire foot above him. "What did you mean, then?" Yusaku opened his mouth to respond, but Revolver continued, completely ignoring him. "You shouldn't be spending your resources on me. I intruded into your home, and you would do well to remember that."

"Intruding?" Yusaku was so totally lost, now. "You're a _guest, _and my _friend_," he said, pretending he didn't stumble over the word _friend_. "You're not intruding, I wanted to get more things to have around for you. It wasn't like you forced me."

Revolver took a step in towards him, but this time, Yusaku didn't take a step back. "I certainly didn't leave you with much choice." The words Revolver spoke were hissed out, and Yusaku was finally starting to understand.

_Does he feel guilty about being here? _He wondered, fighting to keep his hands to himself and not put them on top of Revolver's gloved ones. He also, in the back of his mind, now realized why Aoi had gotten so close to him during their conversation - it was an attempt to comfort.

"Ryoken-" The name slipped from his lips, but in an instant, Yusaku knew it was the wrong thing to say. Revolver's crystal eyes flashed dangerously, and in the blink of an eye, his arms had come up on either side of his head, pinning him to the wall. When had he even gotten that close to the wall, he didn't even know.

"Don't call me that," Revolver snarled, and Yusaku stopped breathing as he realized the position they were in. Revolver was leaning in, his mask nearly touching Yusaku's nose, with his arms on either side of him. "Don't call me that, right now," Revolver repeated himself, leaning in farther so Yusaku could feel the cool glass of his mask, now.

Before he realized what he was doing, Yusaku shivered. It was a stupid reaction, he knew it as soon as he did it, but he couldn't _stop _himself. After his dreams last night, about Revolver saying his name, about his hands, sans gloves, all over Yusaku's skin… After he'd finally, out loud, admitted to someone else what his true feelings were, there was no possible way he could fight the way his brain was responding to this situation, no matter how badly he wanted to.

They both froze, though, and Yusaku squirmed a bit under Revolver's piercing stare. "I-I'm sorry," he said, though he refused to move his eyes from Revolver's. "You don't need to feel bad about being here. I'm glad you can rely on me, Ryoken."

It was an attempt to deflect and get the conversation back on track - back where Yusaku at least felt he had some semblance of control over himself - but he realized too late he had fucked up. Calling him Ryoken again was playing a dangerous game, and Yusaku opened his mouth to take it back -

Only to feel cool glass move against his nose and soft lips touch his own. Despite how _soft _the lips on his were, the pressure on them was hard, and Yusaku could only blink in confusion for a moment until he realized what, exactly, was happening.

The arms on either side of his head bent at the elbows, and Revolver's body pushed into his, forcing him to stand up straighter against the wall. Yusaku closed his eyes, finally, allowing Revolver to move his mouth against his own however he'd like to. Just from the pressure of Revolver's body against his own, Yusaku could feel his uniform pants getting tighter, which was _ridiculous_, but he really couldn't focus on that right now.

All his attention was otherwise occupied with how soft Revolver's lips were despite how demanding he was being; his teeth nipping at Yusaku's lips a bit with every movement. How Revolver's body felt against his own, pressing him back up against his bedroom wall. Involuntarily, Yusaku shivered again, but instead of freezing this time, Revolver took this as an okay.

Within seconds, a tongue was on his lips, working its way into his mouth, and Yusaku was entirely powerless to stop it. Not that he would _want _to - this was literally what he'd been dreaming about, just the night before. He could still remember exactly how everything felt in that dream, but this was real. This was better.

Twitching against Revolver, Yusaku moaned into his mouth, bringing his hands up to pull the older boy in closer. Almost instantly, one of Revolver's hands moved from the side of Yusaku's head to under his chin, lifting it for an easier angle. No longer could Yusaku feel the cool pane of glass on his face, and he found he almost missed it. Revolver's other hand, however, made its way slowly down to his hips, gripping in so tightly that Yusaku could feel his nails through the white gloves.

After what felt like hours of Yusaku getting acquainted with Revolver's mouth, the older boy broke apart from him, and Yusaku doesn't even bother to fight the pitiful whine he makes in response. Revolver chuckled softly, sending a shiver right up Yusaku's spine at the sound - deep and husky, like it was being pulled from his throat. Revolver's voice was something Yusaku fixated on often; he'd actually felt guilty for the months in between the Tower of Hanoi and the beginnings of the Ignis war for not recognizing Revolver's voice as the voice that had saved him, all those years ago. But in those long nights with nothing else to think about, Yusaku realized perhaps part of him had always known, but had been too scared to admit it to himself. He remembered, after their first two duels, the dreams he'd had about that voice, but had willed himself to forget.

Yusaku doubted he would be forgetting again anytime soon.

With his knee, Revolver moved Yusaku's legs apart; pushing one of his own in between so he could put pressure on Yusaku's cock. In the same fluid motion, he removed his mask, tossing it onto the table near them with little care, before his mouth found Yusaku's neck this time. He barely even had to think about craning his neck a bit, trembling at the way his teeth felt against the sensitive spot near his collar bone. He wasn't even going to question how Revolver knew about that.

He was losing it. Since the moment he'd accepted that Revolver was, in fact, kissing him, Yusaku had lost it, but now he was _completely _losing it. There was no going back. He had absolutely no rational thought left in him, as he fisted his hands into Revolver's hair - _why was it so _soft _was it always like this _\- and moved himself against Revolver's leg for any sort of friction against his cock. He had no idea how long Revolver's hands had been on him and he was sure he was going to be embarrassed at how quickly he got way too into this, but again, all rational thought was getting thrown out the window the harder Revolver nipped at his neck.

Both of Revolver's hands, now, were digging into Yusaku's hips almost painfully; though instead of it hurting Yusaku found himself craving more of his nails on his skin, more pressure on him everywhere. Moving his mouth from Yusaku's neck to his ear, Yusaku nearly whined again, before Revolver shushed him lightly.

"I'm going to touch you now," he said, commanding tone as present as ever despite the breathlessness of his voice. It seemed like a needless courtesy, in Yusaku's opinion, but he nodded anyways, moving his hips against Revolver's again to drive home his point.

As his hands loosened their grip on Yusaku's hips and started to make their way to the waistline of his pants, Yusaku had one moment of rational thought left in him, that he had to voice. "I've never done this before," he blurted out, feeling kind of stupid for saying it aloud. But he wanted Revolver to know - to know this was his first time ever being intimate with someone like this, to know that despite the way that it had began, this _meant _something to him. _Revolver _meant something to him.

The hands that were now on his waistline paused, and Revolver breathed in deeply before leaning down to place the slowest, softest kiss so far onto Yusaku's lips. There was nothing really demanding, about this one. Just a feather light pressure, this time; so light, Yusaku could barely feel it, at first. "Neither have I," Revolver replied, once he'd finished his kiss. He spoke so close to Yusaku's lips they tingled, almost, and it was hard to keep from laughing - Yusaku had never known he was ticklish, there. "I've dreamed about it, though. With you."

The admission caught Yusaku by surprise. He'd dreamed about it, too, plenty of times, but to hear him say that he had as well…

It was Yusaku's turn to initiate a kiss, for the first time, grabbing the back of Revolver's head and shoving his mouth against his own roughly. His inexperience showed, and he was nowhere near the level of grace Revolver always had with the way his teeth slammed into Revolver's, but the older boy didn't seem to mind. Not soon after, his hands were already going back to finishing unbuttoning Yusaku's pants.

With no hesitation, Revolver palmed him roughly, groaning into the kiss even though he wasn't the one being touched. Yusaku squirmed from underneath him, trying hard to get him to _move again_. Breaking apart the kiss to laugh a little, Revolver moved his hand again, and Yusaku let out a low moan.

_Fuck_. He wasn't exactly new to the sensation - but having someone else do it, having _Revolver _of all people, do it, was an entirely different experience. He'd chastise himself for being so needy and pathetic later; at the moment, he could barely form a thought other than _more_.

For what felt like hours but could've only, reasonably, been a few moments, Revolver stroked him hard and fast; his gloved hand feeling too hot and not hot enough all at once. Heat coiled in Yusaku's stomach with each pump, and he found he had no control over the sounds coming out of his mouth. One of his own hands was brought up to try and cover his mouth, but Revolver quickly used his free hand to tear it right back off, replacing it with his lips.

The kiss was over quickly, however, and Revolver slowed his pace. "Let me hear you, or I'll stop." The authority in his voice had Yusaku nodding instantly, not even questioning what it was Revolver wanted him to do differently.

Yusaku twitched his hips until Revolver started back up again, pumping his cock harder this time as he moaned loudly.

"Good boy," Revolver practically purred out, and Yusaku nearly came right then. Almost as if he had a sixth sense for it, however, he slowed his hand down again until Yusaku was left nothing more than a whimpering mess. He let him stay like that for a few moments, desperately twitching his hips into Revolver's hand. Finally, he moved his mouth up to Yusaku's ear. Revolver nipped at the shell of it hard before going back to steady pumps, making Yusaku squirm. "You're a good boy, Yusaku. Now come for me."

Revolver's hand sped up its pace again, moving against his cock hard and fast once more. The combination of his movements and the way his voice sounded saying his _name _\- not Playmaker, not Fujiki, but _his name_ \- in that moment had him spilling himself quickly, one hand holding on desperately to Revolver's shoulder to steady him; the other covering his mouth on instinct as he whimpered. He wasn't even aware of what the words coming out of his mouth were, but by the way Revolver was chuckling lightly in his ear he was sure he was saying _something _embarrassing he could try and take back later.

Once his body stopped shaking, Revolver disentangled himself from Yusaku, grabbing the box of tissues he always left on the table and wiping him down gently. Once he was mostly clean, Yusaku quickly pulled his pants back up properly. Revolver opened his mouth to say something, but Yusaku stopped him before he could start.

"My turn," Yusaku said once Revolver had finished cleaning them up, and before Revolver could object, he was on his knees, trying to figure out how to take off Revolver's suit.

Gloved hands came down to stop him, and in less than a minute Revolver was fully naked in front of him, suit carelessly thrown to the side. Yusaku could work with that, he figured, and focused in on the task at hand.

In all honesty, as he reached out to put his hand around Revolver's shaft, Yusaku was a bit nervous. He was slowly coming back down to rational thought after everything that had transpired, and now was staring directly at Revolver's naked abdomen. Before all of this, they had been fighting, about something so stupid and inconsequential at that. It was a little hard to believe.

Instead of dwelling on it, though, Yusaku did his best to let instinct take over, closed his eyes, and gently moved his mouth over just the tip of Revolver's cock. Almost instantly, his hands - no longer gloved, Yusaku had forgotten - were in his hair, but didn't grab onto anything. Just sat there, hovering, as Yusaku moved one hand to hold the base as his mouth slid over the tip again, this time with more purpose behind it.

Revolver groaned, his hands still hovering over Yusaku's head but refusing to grab anything, which for the moment Yusaku appreciated. He'd thought about doing this, more times than he'd care to admit to either the older boy or himself, but thinking about it versus actually _doing _it were two completely different stories. Revolver was longer than he'd been expecting, and he wasn't used to sitting on his knees like that, but Yusaku couldn't deny the heat that he felt when Revolver did anything in response to his actions.

With a bit of confidence found in the fact that despite how inexperienced he was in these things, he could still make Revolver feel _something_, Yusaku took more of him into his mouth this time, allowing himself to move slowly over the length of his cock. His eyes were closed, so he wasn't sure how much of him he could take before hitting the back of his throat, but compensated with his hand by moving it with him.

Experimentally, Yusaku moved his mouth back, so he was only on the tip once again. From above him, he could hear Revolver hiss.

"_Fuck_, Yusaku," were the only things Yusaku could actually make out from the noises he was making, and it was all the encouragement he needed.

This time, at a much faster pace, Yusaku took as much as he could of Revolver's cock into his mouth, pumping at the base with his free hand as he did so. He'd never really cared for porn, but he wasn't stupid, and did have some idea of how this was supposed to go, so he let his body figure it out as he moved his mouth up and down on Revolver. The hands that once stayed lightly resting over his hair grabbed it tightly, now, coaxing Yusaku to move to a rhythm. The defiant part of Yusaku almost wanted to fight him; fight the way Revolver moved his head to a pace that Yusaku hadn't set, but the other part of him _loved _it. Loved the way Revolver had to clearly restrain himself from pushing Yusaku's head all the way down onto him fully.

Without warning, Revolver jerked Yusaku's head back and off of his cock. Before Yusaku could question him, however, Revolver came, spilling himself into Yusaku's hand that had been left on him. He hissed as he did so, and Yusaku watched in fascination as Revolver squeezed his eyes shut, saying Yusaku's name again as he finished.

For a long, long moment, the two of them just stared at each other, not knowing what to do or what to say. When Yusaku had finished, they'd still been preoccupied, and this awkward silence had been nonexistent - Revolver hadn't gotten off, yet, and Yusaku hadn't been willing to let him go without returning the favor. Now that they were _both _returning to the realm of reason, however, there was so much left unsaid at the moment.

Slowly, Yusaku removed his hand from Revolver, apologizing as the older boy winced from being overly sensitive. He found the tissues they'd thrown behind them, and slowly got to work cleaning himself and Revolver up.

Neither of them said anything yet; Revolver's eyes on Yusaku's every move. Yusaku, for all he'd been able to do not even five minutes ago, couldn't help the blush that heated up his entire face the longer Revolver stared at him.

"I'm sorry," he said after another long moment of silence, sitting himself down on his bed. It wasn't like he wanted to put more distance in between him and Revolver, but he didn't want to overstep. He'd never been in a situation like this before - not even close.

Revolver made haste of putting his suit back on before responding. Once he had put everything back together, including the mask, his eyes narrowed at Yusaku for another moment, before he sighed deeply and turned away. "I should leave."

It wasn't an answer that Yusaku wanted to hear, and he was on his feet again before he even knew what he was doing. "Please don't," he said, speaking quickly as he grabbed Revolver's once again gloved hand. "Ryoken, let's _talk _about this."

"What is there to talk about?" To any other person, perhaps, it would've sounded definitive. To Yusaku, however, the slight waver in his voice was clear as day. So he held on tightly to Revolver's hand, refusing to let him walk away from him.

"Don't be stupid," he countered, tugging on his hand. "I wouldn't have done that with just anyone, you know."

In front of him, Revolver went completely still. Yusaku wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, given their situation. "Is that supposed to make me feel better about taking advantage of you?"

At that, Yusaku's eyebrows shot to his hairline in disbelief. "_Taking advantage of me?_" He asked, incredulous. "Are you kidding me?" With all the strength he could muster, he forced Revolver to turn around, looking him dead in the eye. "Ryoken, _I am in love with you_."

It took not even a full count to three before Yusaku realized what he had just confessed, but he certainly wasn't about to take it back. They'd just - they'd just done something they couldn't take back, regardless, he thought. Might as well go all the way on the topic of feelings, too. There was no point in holding back anymore.

Revolver, for his part, was completely stone faced at his confession. His newer avatar may be much, much more expressive than his original one, with the alien eyes, but he was still a master of keeping his expressions schooled. Yusaku didn't take offense, though. He was fully confident, at this point, that his feelings were returned, considering what had just transpired.

So Yusaku let him process. He didn't say it again, repeat himself or anything of the sort. Just kept his gaze even with Revolver's crystal clear eyes and waited.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Revolver's shoulders sagged, and the arm Yusaku was holding onto went slack in his grip. "I know," he said, and it wasn't what Yusaku had been expecting to hear at all. "I've known. For a long time now. Or at least suspected."

"Why didn't you say anything?" It was the first question that popped up in Yusaku's mind.

"Why didn't _you_?" Revolver countered easily, a cynical smile making its way onto his face. "I can't love you, Yusaku. I'm sorry."

That, he had been expecting. While Yusaku hadn't gone into this - _any _of this - at all prepared, he liked to think he knew Revolver better than anyone. They lived in the same world, after all. "Why? Because you're going to turn yourself in, after all this is over?" Something in his tone must've surprised Revolver, because he looked taken aback at his words. If he had expected Yusaku to let him go without a fight, he was sorely mistaken. "Then answer me this," he continued, the grip on Revolver's hand tightening as he spoke. "Ignoring your crimes, are you in love with me?"

"Yes." The words were out of Revolver's mouth before he had a chance to snatch them back, it seemed. "But I can't be."

"That's _stupid_." Yusaku moved in closer, never breaking eye contact once. "You have done more than enough to pay for everything you've done. You have helped fight, countless times, for the sake of humanity."

It was a conversation they must've had in short bursts a hundred times, now - since the Tower of Hanoi collapsed from underneath them.

Revolver breathed in sharply through his nose, narrowing his eyes at the younger boy in front of him. "It has not been nearly enough," he said, voice firm. "I almost killed thousands of people, Yusaku, to give my father a clean slate. I don't _deserve _to walk the same path as you. I won't let you lower yourself to my standards."

Yusaku wanted to slap him. "Will you, for once, let me decide how to live my own life?" He snapped, moving in even closer. Their conversation from earlier, about him going to school, still rang in his mind – along with the one they'd had before all of this had happened. "I care about you, Ryoken. That's not going to stop just because you've made mistakes. It's not going to change."

Another minute of silence, then two, then three, and then Revolver crumpled in front of him. From underneath the mask, his face broke, and he curled up in on himself. Yusaku, however, firmly kept hold of his hand.

"I know," Revolver finally confessed, voice breaking just a little. "I know. I've tried to get you to stop. To get myself to stop. Look where that got me."

Yusaku couldn't help but snort, at that. _Yeah_, Yusaku thought. A good job at getting them both to stop, indeed. "I love you," he repeated, moving his other hand to cup Revolver's face under his mask. "You have already atoned enough."

* * *

Revolver hadn't cried at Yusaku's words, but he'd come close enough. Nothing was solved, not really, but things had settled. At least a little bit. It hadn't taken them long to find their way back into Yusaku's bed for the night; though this time, they didn't try to pretend they wanted distance. Like that morning, Yusaku quickly found himself in Revolver's arms, his head tucked under his chin. That morning, he hadn't let himself think it anything more than a fleeting dream, but now he allowed himself the security and comfort he'd been craving.

Sleep found him surprisingly easily, once he was settled in Revolver's embrace. After everything that had happened, he'd expected to be tossing and turning for hours, with racing thoughts to boot. It was a nice - and much needed - change of pace, all things considered.

When he awoke, Yusaku was still in Revolver's arms, but this time, the older boy was awake. "Good morning," he said, trying to blink the sleep away from his eyes. It was almost hard to believe he was still there, really. Yusaku had half expected him to take off in the middle of the night, despite the fact that he was still much too easily recognizable.

It was a sad thought, but Yusaku didn't dwell on it, instead choosing to be glad that he had decided to stay. "Good morning," Revolver returned, though his voice sounded heavy. "I'm sorry."

He had expected that. "Don't be," he told him, moving himself closer to Revolver's chest. It wasn't an act he was used to doing - in fact, he'd spent much of his life trying to avoid unnecessary contact with others - but it felt nice. Natural, almost. "There's nothing to be sorry for."

Revolver scoffed, but brought a hand up to hold Yusaku's head, anyway. It was a good sign, in Yusaku's mind. "That's certainly not true," he said, but didn't say anything more. It sounded like he wanted to, however, so Yusaku gave him a minute.

When he still did not continue, Yusaku spoke up, though his words were muffled. "But you're here, aren't you?" He asked, knowing the implication of his words wouldn't be lost on Revolver.

They were both silent for a moment, only the sounds of their breathing filling the room. After a minute, however, Revolver pulled Yusaku in impossibly close, closing any distance that might've still existed between them. "I am," he agreed finally. "I am here."

* * *

Revolver had insisted they order some breakfast, despite the cost. He'd waved it off, saying it was of no matter to him, and now they were sitting in Yusaku's cramped apartment at the spots they'd claimed on Revolver's first night there - Yusaku at his desk, Revolver at the small table near the bed.

They'd gotten breakfast sandwiches and a variety of sides to go with it, and Yusaku's mind was reeling a bit from it. He barely even bothered with breakfast, and to see such a spread in his own apartment was a bit mind boggling. The place they had ordered from had sent a delivery robot, so luckily he hadn't had to answer any awkward questions about how on earth someone from _this _side of Den City could afford something like _that_, but he was still feeling almost uncomfortable at the food placed in front of him.

Revolver, however, looked right at home; still looking through lines and lines of code as he occasionally took a bite of whatever it was that he'd ordered for them. He'd adjusted rather quickly to the oddities of being Revolver in the real world, it seemed, but Yusaku knew he was likely eager to get back to his real self and keep Revolver in Link VRAINS.

"I think," Yusaku said after he'd put down his own sandwich, "we need to go to Ai."

It was a thought he'd been debating on all morning, since they'd gotten up and he was sure Revolver wasn't going to take off unexpectedly. Their relationship issues still weren't solved, far from it, honestly, but the fact that he was still there - and had bought them an extremely expensive delivery breakfast - said enough, in Yusaku's mind. It would do, for now, and they could work out the details when they had time.

Revolver's eyes flicked up to meet his, looking contemplative. "Do you think that's best?" He asked, reminding Yusaku of the first night when he'd asked him about Ai.

Nodding, Yusaku shut his laptop with probably a little more force than necessary. "I think it's the only way to solve this," he said truthfully. "All the hacking experience in the world won't get us into Ai's head, and I don't think either of us can keep up with him if he catches on to what we're doing. The initial update had said he was waiting for Playmaker, anyways."

Closing his own laptop, Revolver nodded back. "We'll begin our preparations, then," he agreed, and Yusaku's heart surged at the look he gave him.

It was full of trust. Of understanding. It was something he'd longed for almost openly, for who knew how long. Since he'd figured out that Revolver was the one who had saved him, his special person, he'd wanted nothing more than that. For Revolver to look at him and trust him and _rely _on him. That feeling had quickly grown out of control, but the original thoughts were still there. They'd never really left.

For the first time in what felt like a long, long time, he shot Revolver a genuine smile. He hoped it was enough to convey everything he was feeling. "Thank you," he said. "I love you." He wasn't sure why he added the last part – maybe just for the sake of being able to say it freely, now.

Revolver didn't say anything back, but the smile Yusaku was rewarded with told him everything he needed to know.

* * *

In the middle of the night, in the outskirts of Den City, it truly felt like they were the only two people awake. The part of SOL Tech that they and Kusanagi had narrowed down Ai's location to was near the shipyard, which both Revolver and Yusaku sorely doubted they would encounter anyone other than SOLtis androids. Nobody that would compromise either of their identities, at the very least.

The two of them stood side by side, looking at the somewhat imposing entrance. They had already crossed the bridge, and now were directly outside the door to the warehouse. After careful deliberation, Yusaku reached down to find Revolver's hand, intertwining their fingers together. He still wasn't used to holding hands, in general, but something about it being Revolver standing next to him made everything seem a little bit less scary.

"Are you ready?" Revolver asked him, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. "We only get one chance at this, you know."

Yusaku was well aware. He hadn't wanted to fight Ai from the get go, hating the fact that his former partner had gone so far away that he could no longer figure out how to get him back. Even Revolver, during the three months he was away on his boat, hadn't felt like he was that far gone in comparison. It hurt. It felt like his heart was breaking every time he heard about the things Ai had said or done, and what this would likely come down to.

Through everything, he still cared about him, and it was somewhat comforting that Revolver knew and understood - even if he didn't agree.

Taking a deep breath, Yusaku nodded, trying his best to gather strength in himself. "I know," he said, returning the squeeze Revolver had given him. "I don't think I'll ever be fully ready," he admitted, "but I have to try. For everyone's sake. And for Ai."

"Let's go, then," Revolver said after a beat, and the two of them pushed open the door into the SOL Technology warehouse.

* * *

"Yusaku!" Ai greeted after an unexpected fanfare of lights and colorful confetti exploded around them, jumping off the decked out elevator he had come down in. Yusaku blanched for a split second, still unused to Ai's new form. "And Professor Revolver, that's unexpected." Ai's eyes moved down to their hands, which were still clasped together, and raised one of his eyebrows. "Did Yusaku get lonely without me?"

It was a taunt, really, but Yusaku felt his heart drop into his stomach at the insinuation. Revolver, however, just gripped his hand tighter, as if to say that he understood.

"Yes," Yusaku answered honestly. "I don't want to fight you, Ai. I never have. Turn things back to normal and we can talk things over."

It was odd, for him to be the one looking to talk things out when he was usually the first person jumping into action, but if he could prevent having to fight Ai, one of his only friends - the Ignis that was _born from him _\- he would. He would do almost anything, really.

However, Ai laughed, waving a hand as he did so. It was bitter, though, almost, and Yusaku nearly cringed at the sound. It _hurt_. "I'll turn things back to normal," he agreed, but Yusaku could tell there was a catch coming. "But I won't stop my plans. You'll have to duel me for that. _Ai _only switched things up to get you here, Yusaku~!"

They didn't even know what his plans _were_, not really. But the fact of the matter was, he'd taken out almost all of their allies, and taken over the entirety of SOL Technologies. Regardless of what Ai was doing, Yusaku knew he needed to put a stop to it. If it were something good, something he could've helped with, he didn't think Ai would've run off like he had; getting himself a new body and taking Roboppy with him. And maybe originally, his plans _were _good, but the methods he used were too far gone at this point.

Revolver, from next to Yusaku, was oddly quiet throughout the entire exchange, but finally decided to speak up at that. "We will duel you together," he proclaimed, much to Yusaku's shock. "And if we win, you stop what you're doing."

Yusaku whipped his head over to look at Revolver, who refused to move his eyes from Ai. Ai, on the other hand, looked at him in disbelief.

"Hoh?" A smile crept up onto his face, but Yusaku could tell it wasn't at all genuine. "I thought you wanted to destroy me, Professor Revolver."

The grip on Yusaku's hand tightened even more, but Revolver didn't budge. "I never said I wouldn't." He never said he would, then, either, and Yusaku found that important.

"I agree with Revolver," Yusaku said, detaching his hand from Revolver's to bring up the wrist with his duel disk attached. Where Ai used to reside. "Ai, let's duel. I want to end this."

He hadn't wanted to duel Ai, but it had quickly become apparent that stopping him wasn't going to be possible without doing so. It really hurt, and his heart felt heavy at his own words, but with Revolver at his side, he knew he would be okay.

And maybe he could use this duel to get through to Ai. Get Ai to come back to his senses. It was wishful thinking, at that point, but Yusaku refused to let go of that hope quite yet.

Ai, on the other hand, looked at both of them with an expression Yusaku couldn't quite decipher. "_Ai _suppose," he said, gearing up his own duel disk, "if there's really no other choice! I might as well show you how strong I really am." The Ignis did his best to keep his cheery tone going, but Yusaku could see right through it. He didn't want this, either. Not really.

They'd already fought his copies, which they had both defeated easily. The idea that Ai was stronger than both of them combined seemed absurd, but Yusaku had long since learned not to underestimate his opponents. Even if his opponent was Ai.

"Show me the strength of your new bonds, Yusaku," Ai continued, as the world around them changed with a snap of his fingers. "Show me the strength that I'm missing."

Yusaku understood at once what he meant - he was the last remaining Ignis. Any bonds that he might have forged between himself and humans weren't the same, as much as it hurt him. Being the last of his kind, alone in the universe… it must've been such a lonely feeling. His eyes narrowed, and he looked to Revolver, who was, as always, completely focused on the fight ahead of them.

With him there, Yusaku felt like he could do anything. Even if it meant that he had to fight his partner. Even if it meant that there really _wasn't _another way around this, and there was no way for Ai to come back with Roboppy.

"Revolver," Yusaku said, turning to him before the duel started. "Thank you." Knowing that he didn't have to do this alone - that he didn't have to face Ai by himself, where he wasn't sure if he _could _land the finishing blow, should things come down to it - meant more to him than he could express. He hoped Revolver understood that.

Though he didn't turn to face him, Revolver gave Yusaku a small nod, his eyes glancing at Yusaku's. He didn't respond, but that was okay. The fact that he was there was more telling than anything else he could've said.

"Let's duel!" The three of them called, and Yusaku did his best to steel himself. He might have to face Ai, but part of him had known it would always come down to this.

He had a future he needed to see, and while he had desperately wanted both Ai and Revolver in it, Yusaku knew it was no longer possible. At the very least, he thought, he could give Ai a proper fight, to show he was serious, and that he took Ai seriously. It was the nicest thing he could do for his former partner, at this point.

"There will always be a place for you with me," Yusaku said, before Ai could start his first turn. "If you decide your ambitions aren't worth it, you will always have a home with me."

Revolver, from next to him, surprised them both, then. "I'll give you one last chance, Dark Ignis." His voice was weary, but what surprised Yusaku even more was the sincerity. He hadn't expected Revolver to agree with him, especially after what had happened during Ai's duel with the Zaizens. "But after that, I will come at you with no mercy."

For a moment, Ai looked like he might cave. But the moment was gone as quickly as it had came, and his arm never went down from its dueling position. Any last remaining shred of hope that Yusaku still held had withered away. "That's very surpr-_Ai_-sing coming from you, Revolver," he said, the joke falling flatter than usual, "but I will have to pass, I'm afraid. I no longer fit into the place you held for me, Yusaku."

It was what he had been dreading hearing, but Yusaku had known that, somewhere deep down. He'd known from the moment he'd first seen Ai again, in his SOLtis body, with Roboppy bouncing around him, that he was never coming home. He'd wanted to pretend it wasn't true, which is why he had been putting this off for as long as he had, but he could pretend no longer.

Revolver reached for him then, and forced Yusaku's duel disk down so he could hold his hand for just a minute. Again, he did not speak, but his actions spoke much louder than any words he could've come up with. _I am here. You are strong._

He could do this. Much as he didn't want to, he could do this.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm still kinda in shock i wrote this in a weekend, but here we are. wanted to post it before vrains ended so this is. not super beta read LOL it got a quick look over and thats good enough for now. i'll come back and edit it later but i really can't. look at this anymore LMAO
> 
> see y'all later. for real this time. i need to s l e e p


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